QuakeIndex

Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change

M 2.1ml

16 km NE of Litchfield, California

· 9.1 km deep · released about 41 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Lassen County 43 kmWashoe County 56 kmPlumas County 73 kmSierra County 102 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 2.1 (ml)
Depth
9.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Lassen County, 43 km NW
Status
Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 201 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 41 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 370,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 260,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 23× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 41 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

Where

Epicentre 40.4694, -120.2301. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Lassen County, CA 43 km (27 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Lassen County
Washoe County, NV 56 km (35 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Washoe County
Plumas County, CA 73 km (45 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Plumas County
Sierra County, CA 102 km (64 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Sierra County
Storey County, NV 129 km (80 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Storey County
Butte County, CA 147 km (91 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Butte County

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

23 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 2.2 15 km N of Susanville, CA
  2. 1.8 14 km NNW of Susanville, CA
  3. 2.4 8 km NW of Honey Lake, CA
  4. 1.9 14 km NNW of Susanville, CA
  5. 2.2 15 km SE of Honey Lake, CA
  6. 2.2 24 km ENE of Honey Lake, CA
  7. 1.6 15 km NNW of Susanville, CA
  8. 2.4 38 km WSW of Gerlach, Nevada
  9. 2.1 15 km NNW of Susanville, CA
  10. 2.3 14 km NNW of Susanville, CA
  11. 2.6 11 km NE of Susanville, CA
  12. 2.1 31 km W of Empire, Nevada
  13. 1.9 14 km NNW of Susanville, CA
  14. 1.9 14 km NNW of Susanville, CA
  15. 2.1 23 km E of Herlong, California

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.9 on 2025-12-31 — it released about 18,000 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.